Sterne russell



(No Model.)

S. RUSSELL.

PHOTOGRAPHIG PLATE HOLDER. No. 326,921. Patented Sept. 22, 1885.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

STEBNE RUSSELL, OF WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE SCOVILL MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

PHOTOGRAPHIC-PLATE HOLDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 326,921, dated September 22, 1885.

Application filed April 20, 1885.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, STEENE RUssELL, of Vaterbury, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new I111- provement in Photograph Plate Holders; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the'same, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent in Figure 1, a perspective view of the holder, broken lines representing the plate in the grasp of the holder; Fig. 2, a modification showing the holder made double; Fig. 3, a side view showing the holder as supporting a plate for dripping or drying.

This invention relates to a device of a ton gslike character bywhich to handle photographic plates in dipping, and to support them while dripping, and to handle them generally while under treatment; and the invention consists of a pair of tongs of peculiar shape made from wire, as more fully hereinafter described, and particularly recited in the claims.

The tongs are best made from a single piece of wire, as seen in Fig. 1, the wire being of the requisite length, according to the size of the tongs, bent at the center to form a bow, A, the two legs B C extending therefrom, but turned across each other between the bow and the ends. At the ends thelegs are turned inward, as at a, then one end turned down ward, as at b, and the other upward, as at d. This completes the construction. The wire gives to the tongs a considerable elasticity to permit their ends to be opened, the spring or reaction tending to cause the legs to approach each other. The plate is embraced by the legs at the angles a a, as indicated in broken lines, Fig. 1. One of the ends, 1), extends in one direction-say downward, on the surface of the plateand the other end, d, in the opposite direction, or upward, so that a hear ing is taken by the tongs on the surface of the plate both above and below the point where the angle a grasps the edge of the plate. The bearing portions 1) d are parallel with each other, and so as to lie flat upon the surface of the plate.

Were it not for turning the ends in oppo- (No model.)

site directions, the plate would be supported entirely by the grasp of the angle, and hence could rock within the grasp; but because one leg turns in one direction and the other in the opposite direction a bearing is produced which firmly supports the plate and prevents such rocking in the grasp of the tongs or holder, and thus grasped the holder or tongs serve as a convenient means for dipping the plate or supporting it for dripping, as seen in Fig. 3, or, generally, for handling the plate under treatment.

To apply the holder to the plate the legs are spread until they can pass over opposite edges of the plate, and so as to bring the extensions b (1 upon the surface of the plate. Then the legs left free, spring into firm grasp upon the plate.

The extensions 1) (I may be in the same direction, as seen in Fig. 2, by combining two holders in one, as seen in that figure, the extensions being united as by a tube, 6, surrounding the adjacent ends of each part. I prefer, however, to make the single holder as first described.

I claim 1. The hereiudescribed holder for photograph-plates, made from wire bent to form the bow A, the legs extending therefrom and crossing each other, the legs near their ends turned inward to form a graspingangle, a, and the extreme ends turned into a position parallel with each other, and in a plane at substantially right angles to the plane of the legs, substantially as described.

2. The herein-described holder for photograph-plates, made from wire, bent to form the bow A, the legs extending therefrom and crossing each other, the legs near their ends turned inward to form a grasping-angle, a, and the extreme end I) of one leg turned into a plane at right angles to the plane of the two legs in one direction, the end at of the other leg turned into a plane parallel with the leg b but in the opposite direction, substantially as described.

STERNE RUSSELL.

\Vitnesses:

FRANK J. TUTTLE, C. W. DEMo'r'r. 

